51 cases booked on vehicles with fancy number plates in Visakhapatnam

Road Transport Office (RTO) officials in Visakhapatnam have been coming down hard on vehicles with fancy number plates. They have been conducting regular checks at various locations in the city, booking two-wheelers and four-wheelers with fancy number plates. On Saturday, a total of 51 cases were booked accordingly on vehicles in Visakhapatnam.

These checks focused particularly on new vehicles in the AP 39 registration number series. While the checks had to be stopped earlier due to the pandemic situation, the officials have now again begun these checks on Visakhapatnam roads, with vehicles being booked and fines being imposed from Rs. 100-1000 on the owners. 

The officials conducted special drives at Gambheeram, Maddilapalem, Gajuwaka, Narsipatnam and Anakapalli from 8 AM on Saturday. RTO has instructed all citizens to have High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) as per Motor Vehicle Act 1988, Rule no. 50 and 51. 

Speaking to Yo! Vizag, Deputy Transport Commissioner, Visakhapatnam District, G C Rajaratnam said, “As per Motor Vehicle Act, both two-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles should have only HSRP number plates. This has been made mandatory because HSRP comes with non-removable snap-on locks, which are difficult to replace and change the registration plate when the vehicle is stolen.” The HSRPs store essential details of a vehicle, including engine number and chassis number, in a centralised database. So, the stored data, along with the 10-digit PIN, becomes crucial in identifying a stolen vehicle.

Many vehicle-owners in Visakhapatnam are going for fancy number plates after getting a permanent registration number from RTO. But for the sake of their vehicles’ safety, the people of Vizag should put only HSRP number plates on their vehicles.